Shubh Janmashtami ( slightly belated!!)

A  post  on the occassion  of Janmashtami last  week





Shubh Janmashtami. On this auspicious occassion , let us salute Lord Krishna, the divine Guru and the creator of the Gita, the centrestone of Hindu philosophy.

It is said that imitation is the best form of appreciation. If we imbibe a few characteristics from Sri Krishna's life and philosophy, I think we will be doing a real service to the Lord rather than simply carrying out rituals. These are:
1. Love for mankind ( vasudaiva kutumbakam ) What have we done if we haven't touched peoples' lives?
2. Devotion to duty and work ( Karma Yoga). This one is pretty self evident.
3. Equanimity and nonattachment ( karmanyavadhikaraste maa faleshu kadachan).
4. Benign happiness ( we have never seen a frowning Sri Krishna, have we? That doesn't mean his life had no challenges).
5. Freedom from materialism ( dridh vairagya). You don't really need material possessions beyond a certain point. Doesn't add to your internal happiness.But, doing something worthwhile with what you already have, does .
6. Freedom from the vices of Greed, Jealousy, Anger( Kama krodh rahit)
7. Stand up against wrongdoing ( yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata, avyuthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham)
In the Gita, we find Lord Sri Krishna egging on a reluctant Arjuna to fight the ultimate battle of his life. Point to be noted- sometimes we fight against our own. We aren't doing it for ourselves. We are doing it because we refuse to bow down to wrongdoing. We don't actually fight against our own people . We fight against the darkness that's present in all of us.
Let us look at His life and lessons as an unique form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy( CBT). Divine CBT, if you will.
Need proof? Listen to this bhajan composed by the poet Narsinh Mehta in 15th Century Gujarat,which was played at Gandhiji 's ashram everyday: 

I can vouch for its efficacy. It has helped me in controlling my negative emotions to a large extent.

Jai Sri Krishna. May he visit the world in his various avatars again and again.

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